


this irresistible grasp

by joshllyman



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Wings, M/M, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23522974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joshllyman/pseuds/joshllyman
Summary: Kuroo contemplates the choices in front of him. The relationship between them is still in the process of shifting; they’re more than friends but less than partners, somewhere in the in-between where they kiss each other good night, blushes painted red over both their faces, before heading off to their own rooms. In the past Kuroo might have been content to let Bokuto come to him when he was ready, but something in the way he held himself as he entered has Kuroo itching to go to him instead.---Bokuto has a bad day, and Kuroo finds a way to lift his spirits.
Relationships: Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 18
Kudos: 92





	this irresistible grasp

**Author's Note:**

> bokuroo week day six: smiles/laughter  
> i just really wanted to write wingfic okay

Bokuto’s wings droop low to the ground as he enters their apartment.

Kuroo looks up from the game show he’s watching; Bokuto waves at him half-heartedly as he passes by.

“Are you alright?” Kuroo calls after him.

“Good, yours?” Bokuto responds. Kuroo hears his door open and close.

Kuroo contemplates the choices in front of him. The relationship between them is still in the process of shifting; they’re more than friends but less than partners, somewhere in the in-between where they kiss each other good night, blushes painted red over both their faces, before heading off to their own rooms. In the past Kuroo might have been content to let Bokuto come to him when he was ready, but something in the way he held himself as he entered has Kuroo itching to go to him instead.

On the television screen, a contestant is drenched in some green slime-like substance while the audience laughs raucously.

Kuroo switches the television off and stands, stretching his arms above his head. His tail twitches, and he scratches absently behind his ears before heading for Bokuto’s room. He knocks three times, just hard enough to be heard.

“Bo?” he calls softly. “Can I come in?”

Bokuto lets out a soft groan, which Kuroo takes as an affirmation. He lets himself in to find Bokuto sprawled on the floor, his wings spread out on either side of him.

“You didn’t even get yourself a pillow?” Kuroo questions.

Bokuto makes an attempt at a shrug. “Didn’t seem important.”

Kuroo sighs to himself. He grabs a pillow and offers it to Bokuto before sitting beside him on the floor. He hesitates a moment before resting a hand on his low back. “What happened?”

Bokuto turns his head toward Kuroo. “Nothing in particular, really. Just a lot of stupid, shitty things, you know?”

Kuroo does know. “You should have texted me. I could have had dinner delivered or something.”

Bokuto picks at a loose bit of carpet. “I didn’t want to bother you.”

“It’s not a bother,” Kuroo answers immediately, and when Bokuto meets his eyes for the first time since he arrived home Kuroo can feel the way his cheeks warm. He looks away. “I was just watching that one game show you like.”

Bokuto sighs. “I will next time, I guess.”

“If you want, I can order dinner now. That way we don’t have to cook.”

Bokuto’s shoulders bunch. “It’s okay. I know it’s my turn. I’ll get it in a bit.”

Kuroo pokes Bokuto in the back. “Well, I’m ordering. Do you want your usual?”

Bokuto turns his head toward Kuroo and sighs. “Yes, please.”

Kuroo opens up his delivery app and orders their usual, trying not to think too hard about if his bank account can handle it or not. He sets his phone aside.

“Done.”

“Thank you, Kuroo.”

“You’re welcome. Don’t hesitate next time, okay?”

Kuroo rubs circles into the small of Bokuto’s back, and Bokuto’s eyes flutter shut. “S’nice.”

And this gives Kuroo an idea, one he’s had floating around in his mind since the first time Bokuto had leaned over on the couch and kissed him. It had been an accident, then, just a simple goodbye gesture that blossomed into sputtered apologies and then a second kiss, and then a third as Bokuto tried to leave and kept coming back for more, grins painted wide over both their faces. When Bokuto had finally left he’d nearly whacked Kuroo in the face with his wing, and Kuroo had laid on the couch wonderstruck and considered what it might be like to touch his wings with purpose and not on accident. He takes a deep breath, steeling himself for rejection.

“Bo...would it be alright if I preened your wings?”

Bokuto turns his head toward Kuroo again. This is less of a gesture and more of a Gesture, a statement that says that Kuroo likes kissing Bokuto, likes holding his hand when they study and cuddling under his arm on the couch, but he’s ready for more now. He’s ready for the next step. Preening is intimate, shared only between partners and the closest of winged friends and family. Kuroo isn’t winged, but he’s watched Bokuto preen himself enough times. 

Bokuto’s voice wobbles just a little bit when he answers. “If you want to. That would be nice.”

Kuroo nods. Bokuto takes a deep breath and shoves his face into the pillow.

“I’ll be gentle,” Kuroo promises.

“I know,” Bokuto answers, his voice muffled by fabric.

It’s easy enough to start with, picking out the feathers that are crooked and straightening them, removing the little bits of down and dander and dirt that have accumulated in the nooks and crannies. Bokuto is tense beneath him. Kuroo pauses, running his fingers over the place where skin meets feather. He digs his fingers in a little harder, massaging the muscles that hold Bokuto’s wings in place, and Bokuto takes a deep, stuttering breath.

Kuroo yanks his hands away. “Did I do something wrong?”

Bokuto lifts his head and shakes it fiercely. “No, no, it was perfect. It felt...it felt really good, actually.”

Kuroo inhales deeply, trying to calm his racing heart. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure,” Bokuto says. He relaxes back down into the pillow. “Please don’t stop.”

Kuroo runs his hands over the same spot again, letting Bokuto know where he’s going to begin, and kneads his fingers into Bokuto’s back. He lets his hands wander up to Bokuto’s neck and tries to release the tension there before returning to his wings. As he works, his confidence grows. He runs his fingers through Bokuto’s wings and untangles the loosening feathers. They gather underneath Bokuto’s wings like a silhouette around him.

He’s touched Bokuto’s wings before—it’s hard to live in a tiny apartment with someone with a giant wingspan and not brush them on accident—but never in this intentional, intimate way. They’re softer than he expects, smooth beneath the callused pads of his fingers. Bokuto is loud and brash and occasionally rough around the edges, and while it makes sense that his feathers should be this way, it’s incongruous with the perception that Kuroo holds in his mind.

Then again, Bokuto  _ can  _ be soft. He loves the silliest romantic movies he can find, the ones that are too ridiculous to be real, the ones that Kuroo would make jabs at if he were watching with anyone else. They keep a box of tissues handy for when it’s Bokuto’s turn to choose. He always covers Kuroo with a blanket when he falls asleep in various places around the apartment that aren’t his bed—including the time he’d accidentally fallen asleep in Bokuto’s bed. Bokuto had covered him up like always and gone to sleep on the couch. He has a giant cat plush that Akaashi got for him back in high school, and although Kuroo has only recently learned that it was to poke fun at Bokuto for his crush on Kuroo, he keeps it safe in a corner of his room and pats its head at least once a day.

Bokuto is soft. Bokuto is beautiful. Kuroo just needs to reshape his perception.

Bokuto sits up and shakes his wings out. A few more feathers fall to the ground. Kuroo picks one up and twirls it between his fingers.

“I really appreciate this, Kuroo,” Bokuto says. He puts a hand on Kuroo’s knee. “It means a lot.”

He and Kuroo look each other in the eyes for a moment. Kuroo runs the feather along his nose, and Bokuto’s face scrunches up.

“That tickles,” Bokuto says.

Kuroo does it again, and Bokuto smiles. Once more and he gets a genuine laugh before Bokuto tackles him, pinning him to the ground and pressing his face into Kuroo’s neck.

“Stop it,” Bokuto murmurs, kissing a sensitive spot below Kuroo’s ear. Kuroo shudders.

“No,” Kuroo says. “I don’t think I will.”

Bokuto tugs Kuroo into a sitting position and crawls into his lap, wrapping his legs around Kuroo’s waist carefully so that he doesn’t accidentally step on Kuroo’s tail. (It turns out getting your tail stepped on is sort of a buzzkill). His wings surround them both, and Kuroo takes in a deep breath. Bokuto has only done this once before, and it was just as surprising and intimate then.

“Thank you,” Bokuto says.

Kuroo pulls him down into a kiss. Bokuto’s mouth falls open, encouraging Kuroo to lick past his lips, and Kuroo does. Bokuto’s hands find Kuroo’s hips and hold him there, and Kuroo reaches up to run his fingers through Bokuto’s hair. Bokuto pulls back, but Kuroo follows him and kisses his neck.

“Thank you,” Bokuto says again. His fingers tug at the seam of Kuroo’s shirt.

Kuroo nips his ear, and Bokuto huffs another laugh. “You can take that off, if you want,” Kuroo hums. He nuzzles into Bokuto’s neck.

“Are you sure?” Bokuto asks, breathless.

“It’s not like you haven’t seen it before,” Kuroo observes.

“But this is...different.” 

Kuroo cups his hand to Bokuto’s jaw. “It is,” he agrees. “But...it’s okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Bokuto smiles, small and soft in a way Kuroo hadn’t seen him smile until they’d started this. He carefully lifts the shirt over Kuroo’s head and sets it beside them. He stares for a moment, until Kuroo starts to feel embarrassed and ducks his head.

“You’re being weird about it,” Kuroo mumbles.

“Sorry!” Bokuto says. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just, um. You’re really gorgeous? I guess...before I tried not to think about it. But I’m allowed to think about it now, so I was. And you are. Gorgeous, I mean.”

Kuroo bites his lip.

“I’m gonna shut up,” Bokuto says, and Kuroo tugs him into another kiss.

“Don’t shut up,” Kuroo says. “Keep talking.”

Bokuto flushes as Kuroo works at the buttons on his shirt. “I’ve always thought you were beautiful,” Bokuto confesses. Kuroo presses his mouth to the expanse of skin he’s revealed by undoing the first button. “Ever since we met, I just—ah, Kuroo—”

“Don’t stop,” Kuroo breathes.

Bokuto clutches at Kuroo’s back. Kuroo’s got half the buttons now. “You’re so good, you’re so sweet to me, to everyone, and I—I’ve wanted you for so long—”

“Koutarou,” Kuroo murmurs.

Bokuto looks down at him, eyes wide. “Tetsurou—”

Their buzzer rings. Bokuto pulls away with a gasp. 

“Delivery,” Kuroo remembers.

It takes them a moment to disentangle from each other. Kuroo tugs his shirt back on while Bokuto scoots back off his legs. There are feathers all over the floor.

“I’ll get the door,” Kuroo says. He leans over and kisses Bokuto once more. 

By the time he’s set out dinner and grabbed plastic silverware from the drawers, Bokuto has made his way out from his bedroom. They eat at their too-small table, their feet tangled together beneath the wood. Kuroo keeps catching Bokuto’s eye and laughing.

“You’re laughing at me,” Bokuto says, reaching over and punching Kuroo’s arm.

“I’m not, I’m not,” Kuroo says. He catches Bokuto’s fist and tugs him close. He finds himself looking into Bokuto’s big eyes, and he’s breathless. Bokuto is beautiful, too, so incredibly beautiful, and Kuroo feels so, so lucky to be in the same room as him. To be sharing an apartment with him, to be building whatever this is between them. 

He wants it to have a name. To be official.

He blinks out of his reverie, and Bokuto’s still incredibly close, close enough that Kuroo can count his long lashes.

“Hi,” Bokuto breathes.

“Hello.” Kuroo touches Bokuto’s lips, which part easily under his touch. “I was just thinking.”

“What were you thinking?”

Kuroo takes a deep breath. “What would you say if I asked you to be my boyfriend?”

Bokuto smiles brightly. “I’d say I’m not sure what took us so long, but I’d love to be your boyfriend. What would you say if I asked you to be my boyfriend?”

“I’d say hell yeah, Bokuto Koutarou, I absolutely want to be your boyfriend, and also we should kiss now.”

“Yeah, we should.”

Kuroo stands and tips his head down to press his lips to Bokuto’s. He tastes like the sweet and sour sauce he’d been using on his chicken and something too sweet, too pure to describe. Kuroo never wants to stop tasting it. Bokuto’s thumbs hook in his belt loops and tug him closer, and Kuroo nearly stumbles, and they both dissolve into giggles again.

“I have another idea,” Kuroo says, pressing his nose into Bokuto’s.

Bokuto steals a kiss. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

“You know that thing we were doing before dinner?”

“Yeah?”

“We could...try that again,” Kuroo suggests. “Or keep going from where we left off.”

Bokuto’s eyes brighten. “Yeah. We could. We should.”

Kuroo takes Bokuto’s hand. “Then let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks as always to my team  
> title from pink floyd's learning to fly  
> links to socials in profile


End file.
